Thursday, November 6, 2008

Famous Last Words

One of my favorite recent poetry collections is "Famous Last Words" by Catherine Pierce, winner of the 2007 Saturnalia Book Prize. My favorite section is the third one, which extrapolates poems from several historical characters' last words, including those of Billy the Kid and Isadora Duncan. I like the way Pierce imagines the scenes convincingly, especially the demented George Appel who jokes about being a "baked apple" before his execution. The rest of the book includes everything from love poems to dreamscapes, a variety for lots of different tastes.